zaterdag 12 oktober 2013

The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead

This book is the first English
language translation of the famous Tibetan death text, The Great
Liberation upon Hearing in the Intermediate State. Also known as the
Bardo Thodol which means "liberation by hearing on the after death
plane" (Bardo: after death plane, Thodol or Thotrol: liberation by
hearing), it was originally written in the Tibetan language and is meant
to be a guide for those who have died as they transition from their
former life to a new destination.

The Psychedelic Experience: A
Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead (commonly referred to as
The Psychedelic Experience) is an instruction manual intended for use
during sessions involving psychedelic drugs. Started as early as 1962 in
Zihuatanejo, the book was finally published in August 1964.[1] This
version of Tibetan Book of the Dead was authored by Timothy Leary, Ralph
Metzner and Richard Alpert, all of whom took part in experiments
investigating the therapeutic and religious possibilities of drugs such
as mescaline, psilocybin and LSD. The book is dedicated to Aldous Huxley
and includes a short introductory citation from Huxley's book The Doors
of Perception. Part of this text was used by the Beatles in the song
Tomorrow Never Knows.

the transformation of language under the influence of the psychedelic experience

"I'm proposing on one level that hallucinogens be thought of as almost as social pheromones that regulate the rate at which language develops, and therefore regulate human culture generally."

"Where psychedelics comes together with that is that it's going to require a transformation of human language and understanding to stop the momentum of the historical process, to halt nuclear proliferation, germ warfare, infantile 19th century politics, all these things. It cannot be accomplished through a frontal assault upon it by political means."

"Transformation of language through psychedelic drugs is a central factor of the evolution of the social matrix of the rest of the century." (quote from 1983)

"Tribalism is a social form which can exist at any level of technology. It's a complete illusion to associate it with low levels of technology. It is probably, in fact, a form of social organization second only to the family in its ability to endure."

"I think there is a global commonality of understanding coming into being. And it is not necessarily fostered by institutions."

"If I had to pick an ontological vision that was compatible with what I think these drugs are about, and with what I think is trying to happen, I would pick Taoism."

"So it's [shamanism] a kind of a profession. It's almost like clergy. It's to be deputized by the society as an ecstatic for the purpose of introducing back into society the material that comes from the mystical voyage for purposes of cultural renewal."

"The history of man that you don't know is what your unconscious is made out of."

Tripping as a Tool for Self-Improvement

Psychedelics are the chameleons of the
drug world—amenable to a variety of uses, dependent on the user’s
attitude. The importance of set and setting cannot be overstated. If you
use them as intoxicants, you will become intoxicated. If you want to
see pretty shapes and colors and “trip out” to music, then they will act
as sensory enhancers. If you want a new mode of consciousness that
leads you to experience life in a novel way, they will satisfy that
urge.

I maintain that there’s nothing wrong
with any of these approaches. “Getting fucked up” is a completely
legitimate reason to trip (though not the most productive one). There’s
no need for self-described “serious” psychonauts to condescend to
recreational users, decrying their use as disrespectful or idiotic. (See
Sacredness is in the eye of the beholder
for my detailed thoughts on that issue.) Everyone enjoys sovereignty
over his or her own consciousness—this is the meaning of cognitive
liberty.

But the fact remains: these psychedelics
can go much deeper than recreation. Those who never choose to explore
psychedelics more seriously than as intoxicants or sense-enhancers will
miss out on their greatest potential. Why stop at pretty sounds and
colors when these medicines can catalyze deep epiphanies and lasting
change?

And psychedelics are very much agents of
change. They can show you your shadow self, dragging your insecurities
and internal conflicts into the light for examination. Or mediate a
conversation, even a partnership, with the subconscious. They unseat
your deepest assumptions and lead you to question the most rigid of
habits and biases. Psychedelics are molecular battering rams, crumbling
the castle called Ego and raising from the rubble a profound feeling of
pure love and unity. They can introduce you to God, bridging for a time
the seemingly unbridgeable gap between the human and divine spheres of
existence. Perhaps more importantly (the blasphemy!) they introduce you
to yourself. Your real self, defenses down, moat drained, drawbridge
lowered. A trip may be the first time you have a free reign in your own
mental kingdom. A molecule may be the truest mirror you ever held up to yourself.

"The use of psychedelics
is self-regulating in most cases. Their true purpose is to enhance
growth and interior development. Used only for pleasure, or abused, the
Inner Self is thwarted, which leads to unpleasant experiences and
depression. Though everyone who pursues the use of psychedelics for
personal growth must be prepared for the “dark night of the soul”
experiences, those who seek only entertainment will lose interest in
these substances."

This year, 400,000 Americans will ingest
Lysergic acid diethylamide. That's on top of the 23 million Americans
who've already recreationally pumped their brains full of acid. If I can
hazard the guess, scores of the initiated straight tripped their faces
off--a precedent for the hundreds of thousands of first
timers who'll deliberately eat heroic enough amounts of Lucy so as to go
well beyond the horizons of the here and now, deep into the uncharted
maw of the grand mind. Maybe you fall into one of those camps. And
hey, that's great. Do your thing, if you haven't already.

For others--and there are doubtless just
as many, possibly more--that's enough to steer clear. The mere thought
of letting go is uninviting enough. With zero interest in confronting
all the batshit crazy geometric visuals and hallucinations,
to say nothing of the sounds and tastes of a rollicking trip, the tabs
go denied time and again. And hey, that's cool. But what if it was
possible to reap some of the reported benefits of a semisynthetic
psychedelic like LSD without going all heavyminded? What if it
was possible to tap acid at almost imperceptible levels as a way
to heighten normal, day-to-day functioning without all the mind melt?

If that's you, wrap your head around this: Less acid is maybe more. A lot more.